GENUINE SNOUT-BEETLES. 



213 



cultivated grape vines, being- elongated knots or swellings, usually 

 situated immediately above or below a joint, as shown in Fig. 227. 

 Frequently the gall shows a longitudinal depression on one side, 

 dividing it into two prominences, usually distinguished by a rosy 

 tint. The architect of such a gall is a small beetle about one- 

 eightb of an inch long, of a reddish-brown to^black color, with a 

 rather stout beak, half as long as its body. The entire beetle is 

 highly polished ; the thorax is punctated, and the wing-covers are 

 without any markings, but have a sort of wavy surface, in certain 

 lights producing the effect of being marked as shown in the illus- 

 tration. The adult insect is found early in July ; the female at 

 this time punctures the stem of the vine, and deposits an egg which 



Fig. 227. — Ampeloglypter Sesostris, Lee. After Riley. 



soon hatches into a whitish grub that feeds within the swollen 

 part of the vine. It remains inside the gall until June of the fol- 

 lowing year. A full grown larva is about a quarter of an inch 

 long, white, cylindrical, footless, with a large yellowish head. 

 During June it changes to a pupa, and soon afterwards to a per- 

 fect beetle. 



These beetles are not numerous enough to cause any exten- 

 sive damage, and as the galls can readily be seen, they can be 

 cut off and burned. Since we trim our vines in the autumn, be- 

 fore burying them in the ground to prevent freezing, there is no 

 danger that this snout-beetle should ever become injurious, and 

 especially if we gather the cut off vines and burn them. Our 

 numerous wild grapes, however, will always produce a crop of 

 such beetles. 



A related species, the A. ater Lee, which is very similar to 

 the Sesostris, forms gall-like swellings on the leaf-stalks of the 



